


Deliverance

by alydjarins



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adoption, Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24512812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alydjarins/pseuds/alydjarins
Summary: Marinette, as it is, cannot have children.Adrien is heartbroken.(Future/married Adrienette drabble.)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 32
Kudos: 164





	Deliverance

Marinette, as it is, cannot have children.

Adrien is heartbroken.

He cloaks himself in a brave face for Marinette when they find out – she already has names chosen, clothes designed, a bedroom half painted in her head. She finds him crying in their office a lot. He pretends to work; he pretends that everything is okay. Eventually, the toll strikes him harder than Marinette. All he wants is to fix the childhood that Gabe stole from him. All he wants is to retype the script of his life: a life with a mother that fate stole.

Still, he’s _Adrien_ , so he’s always wonderful. Beyond wonderful. He and Marinette daydream little snippets of their future, constantly, just the two of them. On Mother’s Day, Adrien is extravagant. He surprises Marinette with tiny little picnics at her favorite places, buys her the most luxurious gifts, whispers secrets of his love to her louder and brighter than usual. He culls the stars and grabs the moon for her. She always cries, always is too thankful to count, but all she needs – she says, everytime – is him.

A few years later, one of Marinette’s friends works at a foster home. Marinette decides to hustle something equally extravagant on Mother’s Day, like Adrien has done for her, and the two of them bake up a feast for these children before setting out for deliverance.

While there, Marinette chats up her friend. Adrien is polite. Chats too before glancing around. He spots a small, broken little thing of a girl – around 9 or so – seated in the corner, soaking up timeworn comic books: _Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir_ , the cover reads. She looks content in her own universe, but wholly and entirely alone in it. Adrien can see it in her eyes. She has no one.

He sits himself down besides her. Starts to discuss Ladybug a little, then Chat Noir. _What do ya think of his puns?_ he asks. The girl side eyes him for a second. _Well duh_ , she smiles something tiny, reserved, mischievous underneath. _They’re purrrr-fect_. Adrien lights up. They start to carve into her interests a little more. Video games, some Chinese, and she’s always wanted to learn karate. Maybe fencing, she relents. That’s cool too. Piano? Adrien delves. She makes a face. Adrien makes one back, and they both devolve into a fit of giggles.

On the car ride home, Marinette asks him about the girl. She learns, amidst an eager-conversation recap, that she’s there because her mom had passed a year ago – dad was… abusive, to say the least. She never had a place to go. Adrien is quiet, then, and Marinette goes back to the comic books. _So she **really** liked Chat Noir more than Ladybug? I don’t buy it,_ she teases. Adrien grins and, excitedly, they canvass more parallels between him and his Number 1 Fan again.

Their baking visits turn monthly. Then, weekly. Adrien always has a friend there waiting for him. A few months pass. Marinette has joined in on the afternoon video game sessions, early evening Comic Book Geek Out sessions since Visit 2. (She’s almost convinced the girl to appreciate Ladybug a bit more than Chat Noir now. That yo-yo? A lucky charm?! C’mon. The girl gives a smile and a shrug to Adrien. _Ugh, traitor,_ he rolls his eyes as the girl and Marinette snicker to each other.)

Soon, they get permission to take the friend dates outside of the home. They visit her favorite places and reveal new ones to her. They show her little corners of the city she’s never known. Her favorite, she says, is the Dupain-Cheng bakery. (Tom and Sabine have to agree.) When they pass Collège Françoise Dupont, she drops a small little whisper about ‘always wanting to go there’ when she’s older. Adrien’s heart lurches a little. Marinette grips his hand from across the sidewalk.

She fits right in everywhere. She’s a Dupain, a Cheng, an Agreste. She’s her, she’s him, she’s them.

More months pass. The girl still hasn’t found a home. It’s Mother’s Day. Early in the morning, before the crack of sunrise, Marinette sneaks out of bed. _Shhh, shh,_ she calms Adrien as he stirs. _I’ll be right back - just swinging by somewhere._ She slips past the door, a secret operative to her husband’s dreamy lull.

Later, when Adrien is dressed and ready for the day with flowers and picnics and Gifts Extraordinaire, Marinette waltzes back into the apartment. _Oh, baby, hey, I was-_ he stops. The girl is behind her. Marinette grips her tightly with one hand. She clinches papers with the other.

By now, the girl cannot hold back wavering tears in her eyes. She darts to Adrien, jumping and curving her arms around his shoulders as tight as she has ever has. Marinette looks to her husband and smiles the warmth of the sun at him. Adrien starts to cry, too. She’s theirs. She belongs somewhere now. She has a home. She has a family, and a father, a mother.

Adrien pulls back to caress her cheek for a moment. He can see – deep in a mixture of her irises and green, far beneath _both_ of their strands of blonde soaked in tears – that the girl hasn’t felt this alive in a long, long time. Neither has Marinette; neither has he.

Her name is Emilie.

**Author's Note:**

> Original Tumblr post: alyagrestes.tumblr.com/post/619562205384425472/i-cant-stop-thinking-about-marinette-being-unable
> 
> ♡.


End file.
